Silo



Apr. 10,1923. 7 f 1A5,71 J. MATTSON SILO Filed Aug. 25, 1921 INVENTOR witsan A ITORNEYS Patented Apr. 10, 1923.

UNITED STA'lEd FATE JULIUS MATTSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS- SILO.

Application filed August 25, 1921.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS MATTSON, a

- citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Silos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in silos, and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed:

An objectof my invention is to provide an improvement over the silo disclosed in my prior application for patent, Serial No. 483,849, filed July 11, 1921, in which I disclosed a silo having a closure supported for movement vertically, said improvement consisting in the provision of a flexible closure adapted to conformably fit within the silo casing at all times and being supported for movement vertically.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel means for balancing the weight of the closure to insure ease of operation. y

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of thecharacter described that is simple in construction and can be produced with the materials ordinarily available.

Other objects andadvantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which- Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a silo emboding the, invention, portions thereof being broken away and other portions being shown in section, v

Fig. :2, is a plan view of the device,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a closure embodied in the device, and

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a fragmentary portion of the device.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 denotes a vertically disposed cylindrical silo casing resting upon a base 2 and provided with usual doors 3 through which the contents of the silo may be removed at will. In the present instance, the closure embodied in the device comprises a case formed of an upper cover 4 and a lower cover 5 connected by a cylindrical body 6. The upper cover Serial No. 495,160.

4 and the lower cover 5 are precisely identi cal in essential respects and each has a diameter approximately equal to the inner diameter of the silo casing 1. The upper,

cover 4, the lower cover 5, and the body 6 of the closure casing may be made of wire netting of fine mesh, a porous fabric, or like material. A suitable packing 7 is arranged within the closure. casing to overlie the lower cover. 5 at all points, except at the center thereof and to form a layer located contiguousto the inner wall of. the

body 6, as clearly shown imFig. 1.. Any

suitable material that. is a poor conductor of heat and is capable of being packed to. provide an impervious layer may be used for the packing 7. I have found that part: ly seasoned straw is suitable. for the pur: pose. Other material that will-provide a, layer 8 through which air may permeate .is then superposed on the lower layer 7. An upper impervious layer 7 of the packing employed in forming the lower layer. 7 is arranged between: the intermediate porous layer 8 and the upper cover 4.

The closureissuspended from a frame 9 comprising inclinedv bars 10 supported on thesilo casing 1 at the upper end ofthe latter and converging together at their upper ends. The silo casing isequipped with a strengtheningband; 11 adjacent to its up-v per end. A. connector is provided for. each of the inclined frame bars-l Oand embodies a hook portion 46 engaging with the band and a shank portion 47fprojected betweenthe band 11 and the silo casingandsecured by bolts 48 or the like to the bar 10. It will thus be apparent that the supporting frame is secured in place onthesilo without any necessity for perforating the silo casing to receive attaching means. A cable, 12 is at; tached atiits lower endtoa tiemember 13 that extends through the center of the closure and is attached to both the upper cover 4 and the lower cover 5. In order to distribute the strain incident to the raising of the closure and to permit the manipulation of the closure within the casing without changingthe position-of its axis relatively to the axis of thecasing, I provide a plu rality of radially extending tiewires 14. Each of the tie wires 14 is connected at its upper end with the cable 12 and is arranged to extend vertically through the closure at a point adjacent to the outer edge of the latter, being attached to both the outer cover-4 and guide the lower cover 5. In addition, vertical tie wires of equal length, such as indicated at 15 are provided for each of the inclined tie wires 14: and are attached to the latter at their upper ends and to the lower cover at their lower ends in any suitable manner, such as knots in the wires 15 below the cover 4 and the cover 5. Still other tie wires 17 and 1.8 are attached intermediately to each of the inclined tie wires 14c, are arranged with their ends extended through the closure and are attached to both the upper cover a and the lower cover 5. It will thus be apparent that when a pull is exerted on the cable 12, which is passed through a pulley 19 carried by the supporting frame9, that the flexible closure will be raised and at the same time will con stantly conformably fit the casing 1 to prevent the passage of air or other gases between the outer wall of the closure and the casing. The cable 12 is passed through a pulley 20 carried by a frame, indicated generally at 21, that is attached to the frame 9, and is conducted around a guide roller 22 to a hoisting drum 23. The guide roller 22 is positioned at the lower end of the casing 1 and is supported by parallel vertical rails 24i24. The rails 242t extend above the upper end of the casing 1 and are connected by a cross member 25 with the frame 21. The hoisting drum 23 is mounted on a shaft 26 j ournalled in inclined vertical bars 27-27 that are connected at their upper ends by a cross member 28 and connected with the bars 2t-24c by parallel horizontally disposed members 29-29. The shaft 26 projects laterally of one of the bars 27 and is provided with a stirrup 30 at its end through, which a crank arm 31 is projected. A wedge 32 is driven between the stirrup 30 and the crank arm 31 and secures the latter in adj usted position with respect to the axis of the shaft 26, whereby a greater or less leverage maybe had, as desired. A band 33 is placed on the drum 23 and is indented around its periphery as at 34 to'engagewith a pawl 35 pivotally attached to one of the members 27, whereby the drum 26 is held against rotation in one direction. A plurality of pins 36 extends radially from the drum 23 adjacent to its ends and serve as rim members to prevent the coils of the cable 12 from disengaging the drum 23.

A series of vertically alined racks 45, 37 38 and 39 are attached to the track members 2i24t. Each of these racks has the form of a rectangular frame, as best seen in Fig. 2. A weight 10 rests upon the rack 39. A weight tl rests upon the rack 38 and a weight 42 is supported on the rack 39. These weights are provided with vertically alined openings through which the cable 12 extends. A weight 43 is attached to the cable 12 and is normally positioned below the rack 37 It is important to note that while each weight can be moved through the racks positioned above the rack on which it. normally rests, it cannot be moved downwardly through lower racks. Each of the weights is provided with opposite notches 4-444t adapted to engage with adjacent faces of the track members 2l-21.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. On account of the balanced construction, the closure may be moved readily when the hoisting drum 26 is manipulated. As the closure is lowered in the casing, the lower weight 43 will be raised from its rack or rest 45 through the racks positioned thereabove. It will be manifest that all weights will be suspended on the cable above the upper rack 39 when the closure has been lowered to the bottom of the casing 1 and that each weight will rest on its rack when the closure has been raised to the upper end of the casing 1. Since the upper layer 7 of the closure is impervious, the heated air and gases passing upwardly and accumulating at the center of the silo are prevented from escaping while permitted topenetrate the pervious intermediate layer 8 at the center thereof and to radiate toward the outer edge of the closure. The temperature within the silo will thus be uniformly maintained under varying weather conditions and the ensilage will be kept in sound condition.

' I claim;

1. In a silo having a vertically disposed 10o casing, a closure movably disposed in said casing and comprising a case of porous flexible material, a filling of heat impervious material disposed in said case, and a cover of wire netting over said case.

2. In a silo having a vertically disposed casing, a closure movably disposed in said casing and comprising a case of porous flexible material, a filling of heat impervious material in said case, and flexible supporting 110 members attached to said closure and arranged for connection with a cable or the like to support said closure.

3. In a silo, a vertically disposed casing,

a closure comprising a case made of a porous 115 flexible material and consisting of an upper cover and a lower cover connected at. their edges by a body portion adapted to conformably fit within the silo casing, a layer of dense impervious packing disposed on 120 the lower cover and arranged contiguous to the body portion, said packing being disposed to provide'a layer having a central opening, an intermediate layer of pervious packin superposed on the first named layer 125 and filling the central opening in the first named layer, and an upper layer of dense impervious packing superposed on the intermediate layer and filling the space be tween the latter and the upper cover, and 1&0

means for movably supporting the closure Within the silo casing.

4:. In a silo, a vertically disposed casing, a closure comprising a case made of a porous flexible material and consisting of upper and lower covers connected at their edges by a body portion adapted to conformably fit Within the silo casing, a layer of dense impervious packing disposed on the lower cover and arranged contiguous to the body portion, said packing being disposed to provide a layer having a central opening, a layer of pervious packing superposed on the first of dense impervious packing superposed on the intermediate layer and filling the space between the latter andthe upper cover, and means for movably supporting the closure Within the silo casing, said last named means including a hoisting cable, a vertical tie member projecting through the center of the closure and attached to both the upper cover and the lower cover, and a plurality of spacedapart inclined tie members attached at their upper ends to the first named tie member and arranged to extend through the closure adjacent to its outer edge,

named layer, and filling the central open- 1:: ing in the first named layer, an upper layer JULIUS MATTN N 

